Humorous

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful responses. Here's what I'vereceived, and what a terrific list it is! (Sorry for any repeats.)

Original post:

Bing Vick's wonderful session at ACDA on humor in music prompts me to> try to collect more such pieces. I checked the choralnet archives for> something on humor and didn't find anything, so i am volunteering to> receive emails on pieces that are humorous and eventually compile> them.>> We'll take ALL PDQ Bach pieces as a given!>

Responses:

Choralnet.org has three files already (which I missed), under resources,concerning humor. I can't find the middle one; perhaps someone can help.

Do you know the choral parody on Schubert's Trout theme.Successive movements are done in the styles of various composers. It isvery clever. Male Ensemble Northwest has done two TTBB arrangements that arefunny, but I do not l know if they exist only in manuscript. One is asetting of a marvelous limerick (the one that includes something about notbeing "fussy for Brahms or Debussy") by a composer who was at theUniversity of Oregon. It would be worth an investigation. The other is a compilation by Vijay Singh of TV commercials thatplays a lot on "Car 54, where are you?" Funny piece.

"The Little White Hen" by Scandello"Neighbor's Chorus" by Offenbach"O, No John" arr. by Miller"Football!" by Dobbins

SSA: Beautiful Yet Truthful by PfautschSATB: The Argument by Nesta

I have two original works that are meant to be humorous. One is "OurConductor" which is a round that secretly lambasts the conductor and theother is "The Birds" which sings about the beautiful birds until theydecide to deliver a "package" on the new car.Ken LangerMusic DepartmentLyndon State CollegeLyndonville VT 05851e-mail: LangerK(a)mail.lsc.vsc.eduhome page: http://www.together.net/~artists2/main.html

Mark Foster Music Co. is bringing out my " A Lewis CarrollSampler " this Spring. 3 of the 4 movements are funny. Sincerely, Robert Jordahl

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann "Ill Wind" . This is a marvellouspiece about the singer's misfortunes with the French horn, done to the tuneof a well-known movement from a Mozart horn concerto.

The Mastersingers "Weather Forecast" and "The Highway Code". These areclassics of British comedy recorded by a group of English schoolmasters inthe 50's. "Weather Forecast" is a British Isles weather forecast done toAnglican chant, while "The Highway Code" uses Anglican chant, Enalish folksong tradition and Gilbert andSullivan in a hilarious description of the British rules of the road.

Garrison Keeler "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra". Thiis oneparodies Britten by using hymn tunes and a narrative addressing the questionof which instrument is most suitable for a young Christian. Its "Turkey inthe Straw" version of "Jesus Loves Me" is priceless.

My 'El Hambo', a sort of folk dance spoof indirectly inspired by theSwedish Chef in the Muppet Show, was performed at the ACDA convention inChicago by the Ensemble Singers from Minnesota. Another piece in a similarvein is 'Pseudo-Yoik'. Both have been excellently received, particularly asencores. Both are listed in choralmusic.org and are published by Sulasol(the Finnish Amateur Musicians' Association). 'El Hambo' has been or isabout to be sub-published by Walton.Jaakko MantyjarviHelsinki, Finland

Jenks's Vegetable Compound from the King's Singers 'Victorian Collection'Any good arrangement on items which the Comedian Harmonists sang

I'll nominate 'Father William' by Irving Fine - maybe the other two aswell, but I can't recall them off the top of my head.(There are several worth looking at my Fine, for mixed as well as men's orwomen's: Beautiful Soup, Lobster Quadrille, White Knight...

Also some of Copland's American songs: Ching a ring, Bought me a Cat,come to mind.And the night shall be filled with music. -Longfellow

Try any pieces by the British tuba player Gerard Hoffnung or the Canadianclassical comedienne Anna Russell. My husband has LPs (can you tell how oldwe are?) with names and numbers. Let me know if you want more info.chague(a)hawk.igs.net

I am publishing a piece in the CME series with Boosey and Hawkes entitled"TheLaughing Song". It is a setting of William Blake's poem and it is for two-part treble voices and piano.Valerie Shields

For treble voices:Andrew Carter: "Fred" (8-part round)James Bennighof: "The Juggler" and "Looking for a Rhyme"

For TTBB:Noel Goemanne: "Two Tongue Twisters"

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann "Ill Wind" . This is a marvellouspiece about the singer's misfortunes with the French horn, done to the tuneof a well-known movement from a Mozart horn concerto.

The Mastersingers "Weather Forecast" and "The Highway Code". These areclassics of British comedy recorded by a group of English schoolmasters inthe 50's. "Weather Forecast" is a British Isles weather forecast done toAnglican chant, while "The Highway Code" uses Anglican chant, Enalish folksong tradition and Gilbert andSullivan in a hilarious description of the British rules of the road.

Garrison Keeler "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra". Thiis oneparodies Britten by using hymn tunes and a narrative addressing the questionof which instrument is most suitable for a young Christian. Its "Turkey inthe Straw" version of "Jesus Loves Me" is priceless.

How about the Toch Geographical Fugue? (And Toch's Valse?)

A Mad Madrigal - Percy Wicker MacDonaldIt is POP but you can easily get permission to reproduce it for $.75 acopy - Lorenz #2144

Auction Cries - John Briggs - or is it Biggs (?) - SATB - a list of farmimplements sold at auction...can't find my copy

How about the following: Can't think of composers right now--"Banquet Fugue" (Rutter)"Concerto for Singing Chickens"(great one),"Concertschtick"

Was Jean Belmont's "Farewell Overture" mentioned? I heard it at the 1995NationalConvention in Washington and almost fell out of my chairlaughing.

I'm a 22-year barbershopper in the Chicago area & appreciate a goodmusical joke--often, the more subtle, the better. I'm not familiar withBob Vick's presentation on humor in music, but there's an abundance ofhumorous arrangements to be found in the barbershop world. While many ofthose arrangements were written for quartets, as a rule of thumb, aquartet arrangement ought to work OK for a male chorus.

If you have any interest in investigating works in this genre, I'drecommend you start by getting in touch with Dr. Greg Lyne, Director ofMusical Education for SPEBSQSA (the international Barbershop HarmonySociety). The Society's web site is at http://www.spebsqsa.org, andGreg's e-mail address is glyne(a)spebsqsa.org.

Incidentally, barbershoppers also have a listserv, similar to ChoraList,called the Harmonet. You can access the Harmonet through the Society'shome page; if you choose to subscribe to the Harmonet (free of charge,just as with ChoraList), you can pose the same question to all the 1,000+Harmonetters. One of those Harmonetters is Jay Giallombardo, thedirector of the larger of the two barbershop choruses I sing with, theNew Tradition (current & six-time SPEBSQSA international silvermedalists--home page at http://www.newtradition.org). Jay is a superb &prolific arranger, highly recognized throughout the barbershop world, andanother individual who can be considered a musical authority among &beyond barbershopping--if you favor vocal music of a more classicalnature, you may be interested to know he wrote an outstanding arrangementof the William Tell Overture for his former quartet, Grandma's Boys.

Tom Cunningham, Merry Christmas Jazz, a fun version of "We wish you a merryChristmas".With sparkling jazz piano accompaniment or can also be sung a cappella.For SATB with optional Children's Choir. Published by Hinshaw HMC-1029.

Tom Cunningham, The Good-Bye Jazz, for SATB a cappella or with optionaljazz-pianoaccompaniment. Published by Roberton (UK). In the Theodore Presser catalog,reference 392-00797. A fun encore for SATB choir with optional piano.

Love Lost by Paul Sjolund

I have kept a file over the years on Humor in Music. Originally I wasgoing to devote an entire program to it, but realized that it was toomuch of a good thing! Also humor in choral pieces is often times inthe ear of the beholder - e.g. Many of the madrigals in the "ChesterBooks" series are humorous: Animals, Smoking and Drinking, DesireableWomen, Love and Marriage, etc.

Here are a couple of my favorites:Haydn, Harmony in Marriage;Richard Proulx, The Choirmaster at the Pearly Gates (Sacred MusicPress);Jean Belmont, Farewell Overture;and of course dozens of Madrigal Comedies.

Ding Dong! Merrily on High; Blackwell, David arr; SATB, a cappella a kick, but not for folks who eschew minor slapstick. part of thescore is written upside-down, requiring whole choir to flip their scores

I too, loved Bing's presentation. Many years ago, when I taught highschool, I did a piece called "Monotone Angel" on the Christmas concertwhich was terrific.

Also...for women, "The Ballad of Nancy Dee" by John Gardner"A Woman's World" (texts by Dorothy Parker) by Carey Blyton.Jean Berger has several SATB sets, including "Good, Betyter, Best"and "Bits of Wisdom."

Thanks so much to all who responded --- I now have enough titles to fill six or seven concerts. The compilation is below.

Ted ReidFountain Valley High SchoolFountain Valley, CA

The PDQ BACH "Knock-Knock Cantata."

"The Art of the Ground Round" by Peter Schickle

Jean Belmont's Farewell Overture is a kick!

How about "Intermission" by the Carpenters

Love Lost by Paul Sjolund

the piece performed in San Diego at the National Convention that dealtwith the choirs perspective of the conductor. It was called "A Chorister'sCovert Concert" by George Mabry (Dean Music)

We'll Be Right Back

"Banquet Fugue" of Rutter

Do you know the choral parody on Schubert's Trout theme.Successive movements are done in the styles of various composers. It isvery clever.

Male Ensemble Northwest has done two TTBB arrangements that arefunny, but I do not l know if they exist only in manuscript. One is asetting of a marvelous limerick (the one that includes something about notbeing "fussy for Brahms or Debussy") by a composer who was at theUniversity of Oregon. It would be worth an investigation.

The other is a compilation by Vijay Singh of TV commercials thatplays a lot on "Car 54, where are you?" Funny piece.

The Rossini Cat Duet, any Anna Russell, any Hoffnung Festival.

"The Little White Hen" by Scandello"Neighbor's Chorus" by Offenbach"O, No John" arr. by Miller"Football!" by Dobbins

SSA: Beautiful Yet Truthful by PfautschSATB: The Argument by Nesta

I have two original works that are meant to be humorous. One is "OurConductor" which is a round that secretly lambasts the conductor and theother is "The Birds" which sings about the beautiful birds until theydecide to deliver a "package" on the new car.Ken LangerMusic DepartmentLyndon State CollegeLyndonville VT 05851e-mail: LangerK(a)mail.lsc.vsc.eduhome page: http://www.together.net/~artists2/main.html

Mark Foster Music Co. is bringing out my " A Lewis CarrollSampler " this Spring. 3 of the 4 movements are funny. Sincerely, Robert Jordahl

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann "Ill Wind" . This is a marvellouspiece about the singer's misfortunes with the French horn, done to the tuneof a well-known movement from a Mozart horn concerto.

The Mastersingers "Weather Forecast" and "The Highway Code". These areclassics of British comedy recorded by a group of English schoolmasters inthe 50's. "Weather Forecast" is a British Isles weather forecast done toAnglican chant, while "The Highway Code" uses Anglican chant, Enalish folksong tradition and Gilbert and Sullivan in a hilarious description of the British rules of the road.

Garrison Keeler "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra". Thiis oneparodies Britten by using hymn tunes and a narrative addressing the questionof which instrument is most suitable for a young Christian. Its "Turkey inthe Straw" version of "Jesus Loves Me" is priceless.

My 'El Hambo', a sort of folk dance spoof indirectly inspired by theSwedish Chef in the Muppet Show, was performed at the ACDA convention inChicago by the Ensemble Singers from Minnesota. Another piece in a similarvein is 'Pseudo-Yoik'. Both have been excellently received, particularly asencores. Both are listed in choralmusic.org and are published by Sulasol(the Finnish Amateur Musicians' Association). 'El Hambo' has been or isabout to be sub-published by Walton.Jaakko MantyjarviHelsinki, Finland

Jenks's Vegetable Compound from the King's Singers 'Victorian Collection'Any good arrangement on items which the Comedian Harmonists sang

I'll nominate 'Father William' by Irving Fine - maybe the other two aswell, but I can't recall them off the top of my head.(There are several worth looking at my Fine, for mixed as well as men's orwomen's: Beautiful Soup, Lobster Quadrille, White Knight...

Also some of Copland's American songs: Ching a ring, Bought me a Cat,come to mind.And the night shall be filled with music. -Longfellow

Try any pieces by the British tuba player Gerard Hoffnung or the Canadianclassical comedienne Anna Russell. My husband has LPs (can you tell how oldwe are?) with names and numbers. Let me know if you want more info.chague(a)hawk.igs.net

I am publishing a piece in the CME series with Boosey and Hawkes entitled"TheLaughing Song". It is a setting of William Blake's poem and it is for two-part treble voices and piano.Valerie Shields

For treble voices:Andrew Carter: "Fred" (8-part round)James Bennighof: "The Juggler" and "Looking for a Rhyme"

For TTBB:Noel Goemanne: "Two Tongue Twisters"

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann "Ill Wind" . This is a marvellouspiece about the singer's misfortunes with the French horn, done to the tuneof a well-known movement from a Mozart horn concerto.

The Mastersingers "Weather Forecast" and "The Highway Code". These areclassics of British comedy recorded by a group of English schoolmasters inthe 50's. "Weather Forecast" is a British Isles weather forecast done toAnglican chant, while "The Highway Code" uses Anglican chant, Enalish folksong tradition and Gilbert andSullivan in a hilarious description of the British rules of the road.

Garrison Keeler "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra". Thiis oneparodies Britten by using hymn tunes and a narrative addressing the questionof which instrument is most suitable for a young Christian. Its "Turkey inthe Straw" version of "Jesus Loves Me" is priceless.

How about the Toch Geographical Fugue? (And Toch's Valse?)

A Mad Madrigal - Percy Wicker MacDonaldIt is POP but you can easily get permission to reproduce it for $.75 acopy - Lorenz #2144

Auction Cries - John Briggs - or is it Biggs (?) - SATB - a list of farmimplements sold at auction...can't find my copy

How about the following: Can't think of composers right now--"Banquet Fugue" (Rutter)"Concerto for Singing Chickens"(great one),"Concertschtick"

Was Jean Belmont's "Farewell Overture" mentioned? I heard it at the 1995NationalConvention in Washington and almost fell out of my chairlaughing.

I'm a 22-year barbershopper in the Chicago area & appreciate a goodmusical joke--often, the more subtle, the better. I'm not familiar withBob Vick's presentation on humor in music, but there's an abundance ofhumorous arrangements to be found in the barbershop world. While many ofthose arrangements were written for quartets, as a rule of thumb, aquartet arrangement ought to work OK for a male chorus.

If you have any interest in investigating works in this genre, I'drecommend you start by getting in touch with Dr. Greg Lyne, Director ofMusical Education for SPEBSQSA (the international Barbershop HarmonySociety). The Society's web site is at http://www.spebsqsa.org, andGreg's e-mail address is glyne(a)spebsqsa.org.

Incidentally, barbershoppers also have a listserv, similar to ChoraList,called the Harmonet. You can access the Harmonet through the Society'shome page; if you choose to subscribe to the Harmonet (free of charge,just as with ChoraList), you can pose the same question to all the 1,000+Harmonetters. One of those Harmonetters is Jay Giallombardo, thedirector of the larger of the two barbershop choruses I sing with, theNew Tradition (current & six-time SPEBSQSA international silvermedalists--home page at http://www.newtradition.org). Jay is a superb &prolific arranger, highly recognized throughout the barbershop world, andanother individual who can be considered a musical authority among &beyond barbershopping--if you favor vocal music of a more classicalnature, you may be interested to know he wrote an outstanding arrangementof the William Tell Overture for his former quartet, Grandma's Boys.

Tom Cunningham, Merry Christmas Jazz, a fun version of "We wish you a merryChristmas".With sparkling jazz piano accompaniment or can also be sung a cappella.For SATB with optional Children's Choir. Published by Hinshaw HMC-1029.

Tom Cunningham, The Good-Bye Jazz, for SATB a cappella or with optionaljazz-pianoaccompaniment. Published by Roberton (UK). In the Theodore Presser catalog,reference 392-00797. A fun encore for SATB choir with optional piano.

Love Lost by Paul Sjolund

I have kept a file over the years on Humor in Music. Originally I wasgoing to devote an entire program to it, but realized that it was toomuch of a good thing! Also humor in choral pieces is often times inthe ear of the beholder - e.g. Many of the madrigals in the "ChesterBooks" series are humorous: Animals, Smoking and Drinking, DesireableWomen, Love and Marriage, etc.

Here are a couple of my favorites:Haydn, Harmony in Marriage;Richard Proulx, The Choirmaster at the Pearly Gates (Sacred MusicPress);Jean Belmont, Farewell Overture;and of course dozens of Madrigal Comedies.

Ding Dong! Merrily on High; Blackwell, David arr; SATB, a cappella a kick, but not for folks who eschew minor slapstick. part of thescore is written upside-down, requiring whole choir to flip their scores

I too, loved Bing's presentation. Many years ago, when I taught highschool, I did a piece called "Monotone Angel" on the Christmas concertwhich was terrific.

Also...for women, "The Ballad of Nancy Dee" by John Gardner"A Woman's World" (texts by Dorothy Parker) by Carey Blyton.Jean Berger has several SATB sets, including "Good, Betyter, Best"and "Bits of Wisdom."

I asked for titles that have evoked laughter from your audiences. Along with some interesting comments, including a discussion of "what'sfunny. . .appropriate. . .in good taste. . . " I received thefollowing. Thanks to many who responded!

The following comment came from Robert Ross, Artistic Director, VocesNovae et Antiquae, Philadelphia:

"Bear in mind. . .half the humor factor is being willing to take somerisks in performance, including things like some stage movement, youdoing unexpected things (from what conductors usually do), unexpectedvocal colorings, etc. That's why many times performances of humorousmusic fall flat if you just do what's on the page!"

There's a very nice setting of the poem "When I'm an old woman I shall wearpurple..." The setting is called "Fair Warning" and it's accompanied.I'm at home and don't have composer/publisher info...

M Steighner

What about "Caroline Million" (#2 from a set called "The Choral New Yorker")by Irving Fine? This is a fun, tough, rewarding piece for SSAA, solos &piano. The publisher is Carl Fischer #CM 7961. Happy hunting!

Ann Foster

"Four Russian Peasant Songs" by Stravinsky (two versions exist: acappella, and another, later revision w. 4 horns obbligato). -- almostnon-sensical folk texts, music has that Stravinskian "bite" of wit andhumor. (A phonetic transcription is available from Musica Russica,although we do not have a published edition of these works.) e-mail usat: rusmuscat(a)musicarussica.com

Vladimir Morosan

Ask E. C. Schirmer for their catalogue of music by Gwyneth Walker. Much ofit is humorous, and she is a very good composer as well. Contemporary butwith tunes.

dick drysdale

When I directed Cantus here at Shenandoah, my ladies enjoyedRutter's HEAVENLY AEROPLANE, but it uses piano and drums. Ialso used Jean Berger's Three Pieces for Women's Chorus (Ibelieve is the name). Text for one of the selections dealswith a kangaroo. I don't have a copy in front of me. Hopethat will be enough to get your started.

jhlaster

I vote for "Single Girl" arr. by David Stocker (Thomas House Publications1C0369316).

Vern Sanders

Check with Bill Ganz at UC Berkeley. The Women's chorale had a great arrangement of "Ma, he's makin' eyes at me".

Of course, if they want to try arranging, I would point them towards the song "Men" by the Forrester Sisters. Very funny (My coed quintet is going to do it).

And we have several funny songs in the CASA library, including Hey Daddy and It's Raining on Prom Night. Membership is only $15/yr for a person, and you can get 4 songs every 4 months. + newsletter, etc.

Paul Sinasohn

Have you tried the Lloyd Pfaustch "Laughing Song" for SSAA choirs.The accompaniment is for flute, and is really fun - very rhythmic. Another more serious but highly entertaining is a piece with pianoaccompaniment from Ron Nelsons "Three Songs of the Moon" (I think this is correct) I've only done the movement titled "Ask the Moon". Easy, but nice. Hope this has helped in a small way.

Johnny Ray Jones, DMA

Let The Church Roll On arr. HaristonAlto's Lament Bowlus

R.D. Mathey

Off the top of my head I thought of Randall thompson's "God's Bottles," ona text of the Women's CHristian temperance Union. And there are somemadrigals that are kind of funny, like Este's (East's) "Your Shining Eyes"(Your shining eyes and golden hair, your lily-rosed lips most fair...mencannot choose but like them well. But when they say for them they'll die,Believe them not, they do but lie!)

Not much help...

David Griggs-Janower

Check out Michelle Weir's arrangement of Rock a Bye Baby.

Milton Olsson

Hymn to the Him of True Love-Lloyd Pfautsch (Lawson Gould)--hope it's stillin printAlso by Pfautsch---Songs My Grossmamma Sang (or something like that)--attake off on Brahms LiebesliederYou might look to see if "Old Mother Hubbard" is in a treble arrangement(or that you could use the TTBB)

Lynne Bradley

My new publishing enterprise, Treble Clef Music Press, has several folk songsettings that otheres have enjoyed and you may too:

TC-109: "Housekeeper's Tragedy", North Carolina folk song arr. HermeneEichhorn, a silly song about a grime-fighting housewife who finally "lay downand died and was buried in dirt". SSA, soprano and alto solo, piano. Audiences love it.

TC-119: "Punching the dough", Canadian folksong arr. Alice Parker, on how ittakes more gumption to shoot out biscuits than it does (for the guys) toshoot out windows and lights. SSAA, piano. Both Parker songs have wonderfulrhythmic structures and very rewarding independent piano parts.

(Incidentally, the middle piece in this set, "Away, far down the river," isthe pioneer bride's farewell to everything she knows as she goes west, and isabsolutely lovely and haunting.)

While you may think I have cornered the market on grumpy housewife songs, ofcourse there is Zae Munn's wonderful "The Stove", published by earthsongs inthe set "The Muse, the Stove, and the Willow Plate." SSA a cappella, "Oneday my mother took up a sledgehammer, and pounded her kitchen stove intobits. She served cold cuts to my father for lunch." My chorus sang this andadored it. It's very skillfully written--with rests after all the best laughlines.

And do not forget "The sow took the measles" (SSA and piano), Hinshaw, withwhich the Seattle Girls' Choir brought down the house at the 1993 ACDAconvention in San Antonio. Or Shirley MacRae's "When I am an old woman Ishall wear purple" (SSA and piano), Plymouth Music, with which theIndianapolis Children's Chorus did ditto.

There's also a Gwyneth Walker setting published by ECS of a folksong whoseexact title I forget, but it's along the lines of "See what love has done,"and is about unmarried pregnancy.

I shall be coming out with a couple of silly songs next year, so stay tuned.

If you would like a catalogue of my stuff (19 pieces, with little teeny firstpages of almost everything and a half-price offer for reference copies), justdrop me your snailmail address and I'll be glad to send it.

I have done a work called "hist whist" on a poem of e e cummings, music byr w jones. It is a speech piece. My choirs loved it.

Of all the PDQ Bach works, my favorite is a movement from "Knock, Knock" entitled "What is the Question." This is an audience favorite.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...."

My choir's favorite is "We Are The Chorus" by Ralph Wilkinson. The firstlines are .... "We are the chorus. xxxxxx (insert your own choir's namehere) chorus. We sing what is put before us, yes we do. We are the choir.xxxxxx choir. We sing with a lot of fire deed we do. But we have a gripe.A great big gripe. And we would like to tell all about it."..... from thereon it pokes fun at musical warm ups, at one point the women imitate oboeswhile holding their noses and much more. At another point a choir memberhollars STOP! when the warm-up segment just gets a bit too tedious. Andthere is also a spot for a blood curlding scream. (I once used a member ofthe audience to hollar STOP and it almost brough the house down.)

The other favorite of my choir is the Diack settings of the nursery rhymes."Old Mother Hubbard" is a good one - very Handelian. An easier one is"Sing a Song of Six Pence". "Jack and Jill" is my favorite. Always a joyto sing but they do take some work.

Fellow Listers:

Here is a condensed version of the list of Humorous songs I received.Thanks for your overwhelming response. I am listing almost140 titles foryou. They are all SATB unless otherwise noted. I have condensed otherinformation as well such as composer, arranger, and publisher. I havenumbered them so you can keep things straight as I know all formatsreceived are different. My apologies if I have left anyone's off. HappyHunting!

There is just so much humorous music out there - enough for a life time or two of concerts!

Applauded by an audience of 0

Charles Jason Bechtold on August 13, 2006 10:00pm

"How to be Happy" has been set for SATB chorus with piano accompaniment plus an added tambourine part by C. Jason Bechtold. Key of Bb/C major with a quick, happy tempo in 4/4 meter. Sopranos have a few G's and one A...rest of the ranges are moderate. Clever text. $1.60 per octavo.

CAT THAT BOOGIED, THE (SSA-piano) is an old American folk song whose character is changed by this setting. The boogie-woogie piano part is arranged so that it may be played as an independent solo. The voices may perform a cappella, as a separate choral piece in canon. If a good pianist is invited to play this work as a solo for a choral program, and then the choir sings the piece a cappella, the effect will add both contrast and color to the concert. If, after the choir has sung the piece, the pianist returns to play his/her solo again, but is unexpectedly joined by the voices, the audience will be amazed that the two

Applauded by an audience of 0

Ian Maurer on September 17, 2007 10:00pm

A video of my humorous piece "A Choral Menagerie" listed at #71 has now been uploaded to YouTube if anyone would like to take a look (and listen). The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ_HHEtNK90 or you can go to YouTube and search for "Choral Menagerie". I'd be grateful for any comments and ratings which you might like to provide on that site.

You can also find it, together with details of how to get printed music for the piece, by going to my website www.ianmaurer.net

Applauded by an audience of 0

Rob K on December 3, 2007 10:00pm

Here is my contribution to the (hopefully) humorous song list.

THE FINAL DAY OF SCHOOL
for SATB and Piano.

The Final Day of School

It was the final day of school and, as might be expected,
The academic subjects all were purposely neglected.
The academic subjects all were purposely neglected.

The Colonists and Romans too, from His'try had depart-ed.
The voy'ges of Columbus were no longer being charted!
The voy'ges of Columbus were no longer being charted!

The theorems of Pythagoras, his bright hypotenusing,
Were lying in the corner for some major year-end snoozing,
Were lying in the corner for some major year-end snoozing.

No verbs were parsed, no objects sought, no sentences decoded,
While Twain and Poe and Faulkner were, to afterthoughts, demoted.
While Twain and Poe and Faulkner were, to afterthoughts, demoted.

Instead, in every classroom you could hear a boist'rous song
While from the cafeteria came laughter loud and long.
Out in the hallway there were some who danced the whole day through,
And as for all the students, they were very happy too!
(